Seeds Of Yesterday
by ThatDreamerWriter
Summary: Callie and Jude show up at the Fosters under different circumstances. Will their past conflict with their present? AU
1. Part 1: Meet The Fosters

**A/N: This is my sequel/not so sequel to Flowers In The Attic. It's starting from the beginning so you DO NOT have to read it to understand this. For those of you that already know how I write sequels, this follows the same pattern. Totally new story that starts right after another.**

**HOWEVER, I will warn you that Callie and Jude may appear out of character and that is being done INTENTIONALLY. They are going to be acting strange and that's because they were in a completely different circumstance before this, which has changed them dramatically. If you want to understand more, please read the prequel (Flowers In The Attic). If not, then don't worry about it. I will brush some info into this story to help you understand. **

**Another difference: Callie is 14 and Jude is 9.**

* * *

**Chapter 1: New Beginning**

Callie watches as Stef unlocks the front door of her house and holds it open for the two of them for the first time. And it was like stepping into Foxworth Hall all over again.

A new home.

A new beginning.

But this time she was prepared.

This time, she knew better than to let herself get too comfortable.

Their grandmother's mansion looked absolutely beautiful from the downstairs but they never saw it from where they were kept.

"Come on in," Stef smiles as she stares carefully at both kids, who were still in hospital sweats because they didn't have their own clothes.

Callie appears wary at first glance and Jude quickly looks to his sister for her approval.

"I'm not going to bite," Stef jokes but neither child bothers to laugh. In fact, Callie glances around her surroundings at the sight outside. There were so many houses nearby that could hear them yell, if it ever became necessary. Not like Foxworth Hall where there wasn't another building for miles.

The teen grabs onto her brother's shoulder and pushes him forward reluctantly. It was either that or stand outside with Stef watching them all day. And by the way she'd stuck by them at the hospital, they knew she would've.

* * *

**Chapter 2: Locked In**

Callie watches carefully as the blonde locks the door behind them. Stef hadn't realized that something she always did out of habit, would make the girl's heart begin to race so drastically.

"Alright," Stef smiles casually. "So why don't we head to the kitchen first and meet Lena and the kids, huh?"

Both siblings stare at her strangely as if they were just waiting for her to erupt.

People weren't this nice. And if they were, there was always a hidden agenda behind it.

_Their trust?_

_She wouldn't get it._

_That Callie already knew_.

_FLASHBACK_

_Colleen and their grandmother walk her brothers and Callie up into the attic for the first time._

"_This is where you'll all be staying," their grandmother informs them in an almost robotic yet angry voice. "Now you won't make any loud noises and you won't scream or run around or do anything that you have done before in the past while you were living in utter sin with your parents. No one, and I repeat, no one can know you're here, not even the rest of the help. Now that means: these windows aren't to be touched and your voices aren't to be heard beyond this room... Any attempts to break any of these rules will cause for great punishment."_

"_Mom, what is she talking about?" Chris asks as he stands in front of Callie and Jude._

_Colleen walks over to him and puts her hands on both of his cheeks, "My dolls, please just listen to your grandmother. Don't ever give her any reason to punish you," she says through tears in her eyes. _

_Callie turns her gaze toward her grandmother and holds onto her youngest brother tightly. The older woman stares right back at her in complete disgust. The teen places her attention back on her mother, "Mom, for how long?"_

"_Not long at all, baby girl," Colleen responds. "Just until I figure something out."_

"_In the meantime, Colleen," the oldest woman interrupts. "Why don't you show them what happens when they disobey me?"_

"_Mom, don't," Colleen shakes her head with resistance. _

"_SHOW THEM!" the woman yells back._

_Their mother takes in a deep breath as she stares at her own mother pleadingly. But it's obvious that she doesn't have a choice in the matter. She slowly turns around and unbuttons her white blouse. And when she finishes removing it, all three children are forced to look at the multiple slashes on her back._

"_Seventeen slashes," the elderly woman informs them. "One for each year she lived in sin with your father."_

"_You bitch!" Chris yells as he tries to approach her but Colleen immediately steps in front of him so that he wouldn't._

"_Colleen, control your wicked children! Or I will!"_

"_Chris, please?" Colleen begged._

_Their grandmother stares back at Chris, "Now I am allowing you three to stay in my home," she continues as if it were a luxury. "And I will give you food and shelter but that is all. Not love or attention because those days are long gone now. You three are nothing but the devil's spawn. Evil from the moment of conception. What else would you call children reproduced by my daughter and her own uncle!"_

"_What?" Chris questions._

"_Stupid children don't even know what they are, Colleen!"_

"_My children are not the devil's spawn!" their mother yells back. "Now, you can treat me however you want, but my children—"_

"_YOUR CHILDREN WHAT!" Olivia shouts, and their mother closes her mouth. "Your children are to be treated like the sinners they are by birth! And nothing more!"_

"_I will take my children out of here. We will leave and never look back," Colleen threatens._

"_TAKE THEM!" their grandmother responds. "…DO YOU THINK THAT I CARE?"_

_END OF FLASHBACK_

The flashback repeated in Callie's mind over and over again for the four years that they suffered in that attic. It was the first sign that their mother was transforming into someone else.

"Callie, Jude, are you coming?" Stef asks again. And that's when Callie realizes that the woman is already halfway into the kitchen.

The teen takes a deep breath before she starts to follow the woman. And the sudden pain from her own healing wounds on her back become apparent again.

* * *

**Chapter 3: Sin**

"Hi, you must be Callie and Jude," a woman with an apparent darker complexion begins to walk toward them. "I'm Lena," she says as she holds out her hand for Callie to shake.

The girl doesn't, but Jude does.

"This is my wife" Stef tries to introduce and both kids' faces immediately fall flat. Everyone in the room notices, including the three other teens.

"Is that a problem?" Jesus asks out of pure annoyance. All of their children hated more than anything when others made it seem like his parents were less than or strange, but Jesus was always the one who'd speak up about it.

Callie wrapped her arm around her brother protectively as she stared back at him. "Homosexuality is a sin," she recited in an almost robotic-like voice, causing for everyone's jaws to drop open.

It was like she had no control over her own mouth, and she was still being lectured by her grandmother.

_But this time, the accusations were coming from her._

Lena stared at Stef and waited for the blonde to say something to Callie in response, but her wife simply pressed her lips together nervously and stared back at her.

After a short while Stef finally finds her voice to speak, "Callie, Jude, the food's on the table. Help yourselves. Lena and I are going to have a quick chat, so have a seat please?" She gestured toward the two empty seats next to Brandon and watched as they sat down before she walked back out.


	2. Part 2: Problems Adjusting

**Chapter 4: Understanding**

"I know what you're going to say," Stef says as she closes the front door so that she could talk with her wife in private.

Lena stared at the woman with a flattened expression before she spoke, "That girl just called us sinners in front of our own kids," she informed the blonde as if she hadn't been right there, before crossing her arms over her chest. It didn't make any sense to Lena. _How could Stef of all people tolerate anyone who talked down upon them in their own home?_

"I know," Stef looked down at the floor before looking up back up at the woman and crossing her own arms.

"And how are you okay about this?" Lena asked with a baffled expression. "You of all people…"

"Because…" Stef started. "Callie doesn't mean it," she tried to rationalize.

"She sounded pretty certain when she said it, Stef."

"Look, I told you these kids had it rough."

"That doesn't excuse it."

"I know. I will talk with her. With both of them. Okay?"

"I still don't think this is a good idea," the brunette admitted. She hated to say it but the thought of her own kids being around such behavior made her feel uncomfortable… and Callie said that within the first twenty seconds that she spent here. _Who knows what they were in for?_

"And I know you don't… It's not forever babe. Just until their social worker can find a permanent place for them... But in the meantime—"

"I have to get used to being called a sinner," Lena nodded.

"Lena," Stef sighed as she walked over and glanced through the window, making sure that no one was in sight and could hear them. "… I didn't want to tell you this but…" she took another deep breath, "…Their grandmother used to call them the devil's spawn," Stef made an uncomfortable face as she said the last two words. "They were raised in a very strict upbringing."

"Honey, I know you want to help them—"

"They were tortured," Stef stopped her, "… starved, beaten, and locked in a room for four years because of something their mother did."

"What?" Lena voiced while she squinted her eyes and brought her hand up to her mouth, "…No, you said—"

"I told you they had it rough. I didn't want to get into the details with you because I know how…" Stef stopped herself when she realized that she was about to say the word _emotional_, "I know how upset you get when it comes to any kind of abuse. And I didn't want that to happen—"

"Why did she do that? Wasn't their mother poisoning them torture enough?" Lena raised her voice in a baffled tone.

"Apparently not," Stef sighed. "Look, I know that you didn't want to take them in, and I'm sorry that I just sprung this up on you but—"

Lena shook her head, "No, it's fine," she blew out a deep breath. "They should stay here for now… At least we know they'll be safe here."

Stef smiled with her eyes as she stared at her wife, "Thank you."

* * *

**Chapter 5: Eating**

Stef and Lena both walked back towards the table expecting to find all of the kids at the table eating their food.

_They found all of the kids._

_But only theirs were actually eating._

Both women exchanged glances when they walked over and sat down on the two empty seats and noticed that Callie and Jude's plates were spotless.

"What's a matter, kids? Do you not like lasagna? We can make you something else if you'd like?" Lena offered.

"No," Callie shakes her head. "We're just not really hungry," she lied. The truth was the moms could probably hear both of the kids' stomachs growling from the other side of the table… but that wouldn't change Callie's mind.

"What?" Stef squinted her eyes. "You must be starved. You've only had breakfast at the hospital and it's half past five," she informed them while looking at her watch.

"The hospital?" Mariana asked in confusion and sudden interest.

Stef glanced over toward her wife and realized that she shouldn't have said that but no one responded.

"Really," Callie broke the silence as she attempted to assure them. "We're not hungry."

Stef eyed the girl carefully and had a hint of what was going on, but didn't want to get into that conversation at the dinner table, while everyone else was present. Instead she looked over toward Jude, realizing that she'd have better luck with him.

"Jude, I'm sure you've got to be hungry. If you don't want to eat this, do you have something else in mind we could probably whip up?" she asks with a slight smile, hoping that he'd give in at least.

Instead he turns to look at Callie for permission, which makes both women exchange glances. Callie turns her head to the side slightly, and he took that movement as a no. "I'm not hungry either. I'mmm still full," he tried to smile, "Thank you."

Stef took in a deep breath and tried to avoid asking them again.

_This was going to be harder than she thought_, she realized.

* * *

**Chapter 6: Inseparable**

Once everyone finished eating, all of the kids left the kitchen while Lena began to clean up. It was no surprise to her that the kids didn't even bother to drink the water that was already put out for them.

"Honey," Stef started. "I'm going to go change so that I can take Callie and Jude to the store. Can you…" she stopped and nudged her head toward the two kids that were left in the kitchen.

Lena raised her eyebrows at first in confusion but nodded her head, "Sure."

"Thanks," the blonde said as she left the room.

"Well," Lena continued as she took a few leftover pieces and placed them in two separate bowls, "The foods in the fridge if you want to eat it later," she offered.

Callie and Jude both stared at her blankly.

"Okay…" Lena sighed as she walked over toward the refrigerator to put the food in.

"Uh, where's the bathroom?" Callie abruptly asked.

Lena turned around to face her, "Down the hall on your left. You'll see it," she tried to smile to show that she was as nonthreatening as possible. Then she watched as Callie and Jude both stood up and walked over toward the bathroom.

She watched the two kids walk away together with the most confused look on her face.

It was beginning to become obvious that Jude didn't go anywhere without his older sister.

* * *

**Chapter 7: Private Conversation**

Just as Callie closed the door behind them, she walked over toward the sink and turned it on before looking at her brother, who was no doubt glaring at her.

She sighed, "Jude, I'm sorry. I will find you something to eat tonight, okay?" she tried to smile.

"But I was hungry," he complained as he kept his expression the same.

"I know," she nodded. "But I'm not going to risk it," the teen said sternly. "Not again." Her eyes stared at the wall as if in an obvious daze. She was remembering how she felt that day when she thought her baby brother almost died. She wouldn't relive that again.

"Risk what?" Jude questioned.

Callie shook her head in disbelief. She couldn't understand why it was so difficult for Jude to comprehend, "Why were we in the hospital, Jude?"

He sighed through his flared nostrils. "They wouldn't hurt us."

"I'm not going to take that chance again. Remember what I said at the hospital?"

Jude glanced away from her and at the mirror instead, "You said not to trust anyone besides you."

"Uhuh," she nodded.

He turned back to face her. "But we can trust Stef...She's brought us into her home when she didn't have to."

"So did our grandmother," Callie reminded him.

"Well Stef saved us!" Jude argued in a louder tone.

"That's what we thought grandmother did too, remember? ….We were all homeless. She took us in so that we wouldn't end up on the street after dad died. She supposedly 'saved' us too, remember?"

"Stop it!" Jude yelled as he covered his ears with his hands.

Callie removed them and forced Jude to stare at her. "No, you need to hear it! It's the truth!" she shouted.

"Callie, Jude," Lena called, "Is everything alright in there?" she questioned in a worried tone.

They both took in deep breaths before yelling yes.

* * *

**Chapter 8: Shopping**

"What about this?" Stef asks as she holds up a maroon cardigan and tries to show it to Callie. But the teen wasn't paying her any attention, as she remained focused on her brother, who was flipping through the clothes rack farther away.

The girl noticed a stack of clothes in his hand and shook her head. He hadn't been shopping since he was five and it was obvious that he was excited. But the teen didn't want him getting out of hand.

_These people shouldn't even have to buy us anything. What if they do and expect me to pay them back? I don't have a job… _was all Callie could think.

"Callie?" Stef called, causing for the girl to give her a quick glance.

"Yeah?"

"Do you like this?" the blonde asked.

Callie nodded even though she only stared at the sweater for less than two seconds.

Stef watched carefully as the teen watched Jude. And the woman could tell that Callie appeared mad or even worried.

"Do you know what size you are, sweets?" the woman asked as she reached for a small and a medium.

Callie shrugged her shoulders. _What does it matter what size we are? I wore the same two outfits everyday for four years. Did it look like I really cared what she picked out and whether it was the right size or not?_

"It would help if you actually picked some stuff out yourself, ya know?" the blonde tried to joke but her voice went completely unnoticed by Callie's silence. Stef sighed, "…Okay. Well, since you're not going to help I guess I'll just dress you like Urkel," the blonde tried to lighten the mood again.

"Okay," Callie nodded as she took Stef's suggestion as permission to leave and help her brother.

Stef tilted her head in confusion as she watched the teen walk away. And only seconds later she sighed when she saw that Callie was talking to Jude while removing some of the clothes from his hands and placing them back onto the rack.

"What am I going to do with this kid?" she mumbled to herself as she began to reach for some more clothes.

To be continued…


	3. Part 3: Difficultiness

**Chapter 9: Scars**

"Here, try these on," Stef said as she offered Callie a smile and watched as the girl squinted her eyes at her in confusion before she accepted the clothes and closed the dressing room door.

Stef tilted her head to the side and mumbled and "Oookay…" before pursing her lips and staring at the closed door where Jude was.

"I'll be right here, kids," Stef lied, knowing that it would get Callie to stay in place. The last thing she needed was to have the teen assume that her and Jude had enough time to sneak out of the store. The blonde quickly made her way towards the rack where the girl had put back all of the clothes Jude had picked out. She grabbed them all and practically ran back towards the fitting rooms.

She knocked lightly on the boy's door. "Hey, bud?"

Jude instantly smiled when he heard the sound of the woman's voice. He reached for the doorknob to see what she wanted and noticed her standing there with the rest of the clothes that he picked out. At that moment his eyes immediately gleamed at the sight… but that gleam quickly dissipated as he remembered what Callie had said to him before she put the clothes back.

_Don't give them any reason to punish us…_

That one sentence left so many different scenarios in his mind.

None of them good.

He pressed his lips together and shook his head timidly at her "would-be" offer.

Stef furrowed her eyebrows at the boy, not liking the way he had been behaving either.

It was like Callie had conditioned him to obey her.

"Callie's not around, Jude. I want you to try them on," Stef attempted with a genuine smile.

Jude wasn't used to seeing that kind of smile.

Callie smiled sometimes, but her smiles always showed a certain sadness in them.

And Mothers' smile was always forced.

Grandmother never smiled.

"I don't want them!" Jude practically yelled at her. And his sudden reaction quickly caused the woman to pull back up a little and left stunned by his outburst.

Within seconds both heard Callie's scolding voice. "Jude!"

* * *

Stef immediately stepped back when she felt Callie practically pushing her to get inside of the fitting room and examine her brother, who seemed to be on the verge of crying.

"I'm sorry," Jude mumbled to Callie and then turned to face Stef with a tear that had struck his cheek. He quickly wiped it away when he remembered what his grandmother had once told them.

"_Crying will get you nothing… for no one can feel sympathy for the children that had obviously risen from the pit of hell in the first place." _

"I didn't mean to," the boy tried to tell Stef without making a peep as he was supposed to be trained to.

_But he had never mastered that skill. _

_Not like Callie had_.

Instead his voice cracked as his expression displayed more terror from the anticipation of what was to come. Callie let go of the anger she had just felt and grabbed her brother by his head, bringing him closer toward her body so that he wouldn't have to see anything and get over the fear.

_She hated this position. _

It was what she had done; the first time their grandmother had beat her. It was the only way Jude wouldn't have to watch. Callie's own body loss it's tenseness when she felt Jude's being to relax and his breathing soften. The teen began to rub her fingers through his hair as a desperate attempt to comfort him just as she had done in the attic when he had a nightmare about their grandmother.

And now Callie was forced to remember one of the worst days of her life, just so that her brother could feel at ease.

Stef gulped hard as she watched to two children. They had an extremely close connection and she knew that Callie could probably be the one to bring her brother down and yet the only one that kept him together. She knew that prying these two apart for a so desperately needed conversation with Callie was going to be an even more difficult task than she had thought.

* * *

**Chapter 10: Not Giving Up**

Just as Stef walked into the diner with the two kids and they all sat down at the table, she noticed yet another distant motion from Callie. The blonde woman sat directly across from them, though Callie refused to make any kind of eye contact, staring at the metal napkin container on the table next to theirs.

And the teen could feel the woman's eyes being focused on her, but it just annoyed Callie even further.

_Her and Jude were neither puppies from a dog shelter… nor babies in a nursery._

_So what did the woman want with them?_

_And why was she trying so hard._

_Why did she stay in the hospital so long?_

_And why would she drag them along with her?_

_Were they just supposed to fit in with the zoo that they call a family?_

_2 women!_

_3 kids? Two of them that weren't even theirs?_

It didn't make sense to the teen.

_They were already going to hell._

_So why would they want to make matters worse with two of the devil's own spawn to add on to their troubles?_

_Doesn't she realize that there might be levels in hell like in Dante's Inferno_?

Callie hadn't read too much from that book, but she knew well enough that her and Jude would be in the lowest level, right next to Lucifer himself.

_So why would Stef want to ruin things for her family even further?_

Stef and Jude watched as the waitress approached them and handed them the menus.

Callie didn't even have to look at it. She watched as the redhead placed the menu in front of her.

_She wouldn't eat._

She'd gone a whole two weeks without eating before. It had been a punishment by their grandmother for stealing her necklace back from the main house. It was something her father had given her on her birthday and she couldn't bear to see that old woman with it on. Or even worse. Know that she threw it in the trash instead.

She learned the hard way that she couldn't have what was already hers. And her, Jude and Chris had to suffer the consequences because of it. She would never forget how difficult those couple of weeks were for them.

And all because of her deceit.

_But a human body could survive three weeks without eating._

_That _Callie knew for certain. And nothing was going to make the teen forget about that.

_She was old enough to know that_ w_ith everything came a price…_

Stef focused on Callie when the waitress trailed off. She could tell by the girl's avoidant posture that this was going to be yet another difficult task.

_Maybe it didn't have to be_, Stef thought to herself as she spoke. "So… What are you kids in the mood for?" The blonde eyed Jude, then Callie, then when back to the boy who was eyeing the menu with difficulty.

_And Callie knew why._

Chris never stayed around long enough to teach her little brother to read like he promised he would.

And after that, Jude refused to let Callie teach him. He was too gullible to think that Chris would keep his promise.

Instead, Jude pointed to the photo on the menu, the one with the chocolate pancakes that had a whipped-cream decorated smiley-face with cherries for eyes. He looked up at Stef with what seemed to the cop to be… fear. It was as if he already expected some sort of punishment for choosing the wrong one.

Stef turned the boy's menu around and smiled. "Not a problem, Jude…" Her words got the boy to instantly relax his previously tense body. Stef turned her attention towards Callie. "What about you, Callie? What are you in the mood for? I think I want a burger and fries…" Stef looked down at the menu and shrugged her shoulders to ease the awkwardness a little. The cop continued to eye the menu up and down as if she were searching for something else. When she realized that Callie wasn't going to say anything, she lifted her head back up. "Callie?"

"I'm not hungry, okay?" Callie answered matter-of-factly as she stared back at the woman with the most serious and hard expression she could muster.

Stef stared back at her as if challenging her to continue this attitude. "Are you sure about that?" Stef questioned in a persistent tone.

So you can just imagine her confusion when Callie glanced down and pushed her still-closed menu toward the center of the table, closer towards Stef. And it became obvious to the blonde that this wasn't Brandon, Mariana, or Jesus.

She was going to have to try a little harder to get the teen to realize who was the adult here.

"Do you three need another minute?" the redheaded waitress who appeared out of nowhere asked.

Callie ignored her and stared out of the window at a car that was backing out of a parking spot.

Stef took in a deep breath through her nose as she watched the teen and turned toward the waitress. "No, we're ready. He'll have the chocolate smiley pancakes. And we're going to have two cheeseburger combos with fries..."


	4. Part 4: Slipping Away

**Chapter 11: Brother Knows Best**

"Callie, would you please..." Stef tried another method to get the girl to eat for the third time. She knew that she had to be careful not to say anything even remotely threateningly, but she was also getting frustrated that Callie continued to deny the food.

The fourteen-year-old shrugged her shoulders once and refused to uncross her arms.

Jude rolled his eyes as he stared at Callie and then back at his food.

"Callie, I'm not going to force you to eat," Stef tried to play a little adverse psychology on the teen. She had done it many times on her own children but Callie was nothing like them so she wasn't sure how well it'd work in her favor.

Though when in reality, all she really wanted to do was to shove the burger into the girl's mouth before she passed out. "Alright, Callie. I'm going to eat my food, because I'm starving. And in the meantime, you can just sit there and be miserable for no reason. Because you don't have a reason not to trust the waitress and the cook, believe it or not…"

This time it was the cop who decided to shrug her shoulders before she turned to face the boy. "How are the pancakes, Jude?" Stef asked enthusiastically. She purposely wanted to take the attention off of Callie now, because perhaps that's what the tee would've preferred.

Jude nodded his head as if to say good before looking back at Callie. Interestingly enough, Stef hadn't noticed when he began shifting closer towards his sister. "…Callie, what if you need your strength?" Jude whisper-asked so that Stef wouldn't hear. And unfortunately for the blonde, she couldn't hear exactly what was being said now that she noticed something was going on.

Callie ignored her brother at the moment. She was too annoyed with Stef still, for ordering her food.

"What if t's like the last time?" Jude finally asked the question that was burning a hole through his mind. Though Jude was young, he was smart. Especially when it came down to how _his sister_ thinks.

Callie began thinking back to the last time her brother was referring to.

* * *

FLASHBACK

_"Chris, I'm hungry," a 7-year-old Jude whined to his older brother. Callie looked from Jude to Chris and the down at her lap shamefully._

_This was HER fault._

_"Jude, I know. Grandmother will come up soon. Just...," Chris paused. "How about a new story?" Chris finally asked so that Jude would become distracted. Distracting him hadn't worked so well for the first few days of their food deprivation. But after so many went by, it was getting harder and harder for any of the children to think clearly anymore._

_When Jude slumped over to the sofa where Chris was, Callie began her own zombie-like walk towards the window as Chris watched her. And if the wall hadn't been there to support her, she knew that she would've tipped over and fallen flat on her face. She slowly pulled the curtain back so that they could get some sun inside of the attic. _

_It was against the rules… but Callie didn't care at this point._

_She was tired of their rules._

_She wondered for a second if all three of them could make it down right now._

_To leave and never suffer another moment longer in that hot and murky attic._

_But the sunlight coming in made her feel even dizzier as her vision became all the blurrier. Callie turned to face Chris who silently stared back at her. He too knew what his younger sister was thinking. He shook his head lightly in response, causing for Callie to depressingly close the curtain._

_They wouldn't leave anytime soon..._

END OF FLASHBACK

* * *

Callie angrily stared back at her burger. _Jude was right, _she realized. And she wouldn't be the reason why her brother was defenseless.

_Not again_, she thought as she forced herself to let go of what Stef would expect in return for the food.

If she was stronger, she could take whatever punishment or job she was given.

And with that last thought... she ate.

* * *

**Chapter 12: Rules**

During the drive back towards the house, Stef felt satisfied that Callie had eaten all of her food. How had the teen gone from "not being hungry" to "not leaving a french-fry on her plate"? She knew it was something that Jude had said to his sister, and she wanted to ask him about it too. But Stef knew better than to do it in front of Callie.

_She had other matters to deal with anyway._

"Alright, so...you guys, I have something to talk to you about... Well ask, I should say," Stef finally broke the long silence during the car ride before she turned her attention to the rearview mirror to look at Callie and Jude. Seconds later, she pulled the car over.

_Of course she wants something in return_, Callie rationalized. _It wasn't just my dignity she wanted to take… _

Neither of them had money.

Callie figured Stef knew that by the time the check came to the table.

The cop turned off the engine and removed her seatbelt before shifting her entire body around so that she could face the two of them and appear gentler and kind. She hadn't wanted to frighten them in any way but it was getting harder to do that in her position. She shifted her body closer towards the middle of the driver and passenger seat so that they could see her perfectly clearly "...Now, okay… Lena and I know that your grandmother may have..." Stef struggled to find the right words to say this. "Alright," she began a new approach. "I know it's going to be difficult, but I'm going to need both of you to...forget all of what she told you guys..."

Callie and Jude just stared at her blankly. They didn't look confused but they appeared as if nothing she said would affect them at all.

"Like it's going to just be that easy," Stef sarcastically mumbled to herself before sighing and taking a deep breath. "Okay, listen," the woman tried again. 'So…your grandmother, she was very sick–"

"Did she have cancer?" Jude asked with a hint of interest.

Stef furrowed her eyebrows at him but tried not to make him feel awkward by not responding right away. "No, she didn't have cancer," Stef said. "I mean, _mentally_, she mentally she was ill…"

The cop paused as she tried to study either child for a change of expression or body language. Callie glanced away from her in annoyance and Jude seemed as if he was trying to grasp the new concept. "The point is, your grandmother… she told the both of you lies. That's what they were. _Lies_," Stef attempted to assure them in a more serious tone. After a short pause, she tried to make her voice a little gentler, "And I think you two kids… you took them as truths. But she didn't have the right to call you those names and to say those horrible things about you."

"But she got everything she said from the bible. The bible is God's story," Jude challenged. "God said we're–"

"God loves all of his children," Stef stopped him abruptly. "Nothing either of your parents did or could have done defines you. Either of you," Stef raised her tone a little so that Callie would definitely hear this part even if she refused to look at her. "You're not the devil's spawn. And Lena and I aren't living in sin because we're both women."

Callie finally raised her eyes to meet Stef's.

"Your grandmother—"

"Olivia," Callie corrected.

The teen was beginning to feel outraged every time she heard those words. Jude looked up at his sister with sudden interest.

"Olivia," Stef agreed when she understood why Callie would prefer to call her that. To be honest, Stef didn't feel comfortable using that term to describe such a treacherous woman either. "Well, she hurt the both of you and she had no right to do that…but… that doesn't mean anything she said was right. Nothing like that is in the bible and you shouldn't believe anything from someone who tells you that you're unworthy of love and… affection. You get it don't you? It's _her_ who was the problem. _Not you_," the woman attempted to assure the two children. "And I'm sorry that you two had to go through all of those horrible things, but… all I can do now is make sure you never have to go through anything like that again," Stef felt her voice crack but made sure to keep her face determined. She couldn't lose them now in her own feelings about the situation.

She hadn't even reached Callie yet…

Jude felt a hot tear fall down and onto his cheek.

_But Callie wasn't too quick to believe her_.

She remembered more than the nine year old. He was just beginning to understand what really happened in that attic.

She had four years filled with dreadful and painful memories.

_And how could Olivia be their only problem?_

_What about the mom who left them in there to rot to begin with? The one who lied to them every time she laid eyes on them?_

_What about the butler who would come in, bring them food, and lock the door behind himself on the way out every day for the three and a half years that he knew?_

_What about the older brother, who had just managed to escape and promised to come back for them, only he never did?_

_THEY couldn't ALL be the problem._

"I'm kinda tired," Callie lied for the sake of appearing unaffected and aloof.

This was the very last thing she needed right now…

Another adult, attempting to gain her trust, all the while tying the knot around both of their bodies to keep them from really moving.

_Colleen was good at that._

_Making them believe her lies_.

But if Jude would get stuck, Callie would always be there to pull him out of the ropes.

She couldn't do that if they were both trapped again…


	5. Part 5: The First Night

**Part Five: The First Night**

**Chapter 13: Noise**

Callie's eyes fluttered open immediately at the faintest sound of footsteps. She felt a surge of panic flow through her entire body, as she tried to get her eyes to fixate on whomever had made them. Her arms, which were wrapped tightly around Jude's body before the noise, suddenly began to release slowly. She tried to sit up so that her hands would be free and ready for whatever came next.

Though she saw no one through the darkness she was faced with. The only things she could make out were the furniture and wooden picture frames that surrounded her.

The teen breathed slowly and quietly so that no one else could hear her either. She wouldn't be the only one caught by surprise…

And even now, she was beating herself up in her mind.

_How could she have fallen asleep?_

_What was she thinking!_

_What if she hadn't heard the footsteps?_

_Then what would have happened?_

As she watched the empty and dark doorway carefully, her left hand reached for a small statue that was on the coffee table beside the couch. She had no idea what the statue was of but she knew it was made of some sort of hard stone.

_Marble maybe?_

_Either way, she'd use it._

She stayed silent for almost an entire minute, completely focused at both entryways to the living room, even though the sound was coming from the direction of the staircase and not the kitchen. She swallowed hard and cursed herself for it afterwards.

She couldn't let them think that she was scared.

Though when she saw a shadow moving toward the doorway near the front door, she let in a deep breath, making sure to lift her hand with the statue above her shoulders.

She was sure to hurl it at whoever was approaching, if they made the mistake of taking another step toward her and her brother.

* * *

**Chapter 14: Unexpected Guest**

"Callie?" she finally heard a woman say.

It wasn't Stef's voice so it must've been her wife's Callie rationalized.

_Should I say something?_ the teen wondered as her eyes began to get accustomed to the lack of light. _If I do, she might not shut up. She might ask questions that I don't want to answer… But if I don't, she'd think we were vulnerable by falling asleep at the same time. _

Callie couldn't let them think that. That's the last thing she would do.

"What?" Callie tried to say in an angry tone though it came out raspy and quiet from having been asleep just minutes before.

"What are you doing awake?" Lena asked in a gentle tone. "Can't sleep?" she questioned as she made sure to stay in the doorway once she saw Callie's raised hand with the marbled statue angel Lena's mother had gotten her. Though Lena was afraid Callie would hurl it at her head, she was sure she'd do it if she didn't tread lightly.

"Jude's sleeping," Callie answered as if that were enough for Callie. And if it were enough for her, it would have to be enough for them.

"And what about you? Don't you think you should get some sleep too?" the older woman asked.

"No," Callie answered flatly. "I'm fine." _Now leave us_, she wanted to add but thought better not to.

"I know you're fine," Lena tried to console her but when she took a step forward to get a closer look at the girl, Callie's hand with the statue raised farther upward as if she were really getting ready to toss it now.

Lena stopped in her tracks. "Um…" she began nervously. "Do you want something to drink? Some water or…tea maybe?"

_Tea?_ Callie thought to herself. _That would keep her up, right? If she were awake, she'd be able to better protect Jude. And she'd stop being so damn tired._

Her hand began to lower slightly though not completely.

"Tea?" she whisper-asked Lena as if the offer was genuine.

Lena nodded and tried to offer her a warm smile, but wasn't entirely sure the girl could see. "Yes," she added.

Callie stayed quiet even though she wanted to say yes too.

Lena was beginning to sense the girl's hesitation. "I'll make some right now," she answered for her. "Meet you in the kitchen in two," she told Callie as she turned and began taking the long way to the kitchen, rather than going directly across the living room for it. She knew that Callie might've taken the sudden movement as threatening and Lena really hadn't wanted to go back to school on Monday with a huge knot on her forehead…

* * *

**Chapter 15: Quick**

Callie made sure to quietly wait for Lena to leave the room first and even afterwards she questioned leaving Jude at all. But after another minute or two she saw the light of the kitchen go on.

_It wasn't too far away._

_Jude was still asleep too. _

_He'd whimper if anything were to happen. Callie's ears would be open anyway. _

She carefully moved herself away from her brother's small body and lifted herself off of the small sofa.

Her back had been hurting, but Callie had refused to lay anywhere else before bed. She argued with Stef profusely until the cop finally gave in and let Callie have her way. Though Stef added that she would only allow it for tonight. It was just so the teen would learn to trust them.

Callie gently kissed Jude's forehead and whispered, "I'll be right back," before turning away and glancing around the living room once more.

_She'd be quick…_

By the time she reached the kitchen, she saw Lena placing the tea bags into the kettle. She hurriedly glanced down when she remembered that she still had the marbled statue tight in her grip.

_Crap,_ she thought to herself as she wondered if she had time to quickly take it back into the living room, but Lena's body turned to face her.

"Do you like chamomile?" Lena asked the girl, who was staring at her worriedly through frozen eyes.

Callie nodded slowly even though the truth was that she never drank tea. She had no idea that Chamomile was one of the few that didn't have caffeine.

"Good, because that's all we have right now," Lena smiled awkwardly before her eyes dropped from Callie's face to her right hand. Her smile slightly faded for a quick second. "Uh, why don't you have a seat?" she asked the fourteen year old from a slight fear as she gestured to the seat in front of her.

She wasn't entirely scared of Callie but she knew Callie was scared. And the woman wasn't ignorant about the extent that traumatized children might go to from fear of being harmed.

Callie stared at the seat as if it were frozen in place and couldn't be moved even if she tried.

Though she did try. Otherwise, she wasn't sure the trip would've gone been of any use. After sitting down on the seat, she placed the angel statue on the table lying face down. She stared at it embarrassingly, once she realized Lena had definitely seen it though Callie wasn't going to bring anything up. The girl laid her hands on top of it as if that would take care of that.

Lena reached for the kettle and flipped open the top, pouring the hot tea into the two cups in front of her in a fast manner so that she could turn around and keep an eye on Callie…

To be continued.


	6. Part 6: Still Up

**Chapter 16: Skepticism**

I _am completely out of my league_, Lena thought to herself before she grabbed another mug from the cabinet to pour Callie's cup of chamomile tea.

_What if it hadn't been me coming down the stairs? What if it were Mariana or one of the boys instead? Callie could've seriously hurt them if she threw that statue._

Lena hated herself for not wanting Callie there right now. She knew that both Callie and Jude had been through a lot and were traumatized more than anything... But she also knew that she and Stef wouldn't be able to provide them with the help they really needed. They weren't equipped to deal with this. And even if they were, they couldn't do it at the expense of the safety of their own children.

Lena tried to take a deep breath before grabbing the two mugs from the counter and turning her body around to face Callie, who was staring back at the older woman with an obvious hint of fear evident in her eyes. She gently placed both of the mugs down on the table directly in front of Callie trying hard not to startle her.

Callie began to reach for one quickly, too quickly in Lena's eyes.

"Be careful. It's really hot," Lena stopped the fourteen year old from wrapping both hands around the cup and possibly burning herself. The woman picked hers up slowly by the handle and gestured towards Callie to do the same.

The teen glanced around the room carefully before reaching for the mug once more and grabbing it by the handle. She slowly brought the edge of it to her mouth and felt the hot liquid on her lips before pulling it away again.

_It was too hot. _

_She'd have to wait._

_She always had to wait_, she remembered.

"Callie," Lena began in a gentle tone, but Callie eyes immediately darted towards the woman's eyes with worry.

She was in trouble, she figured. She knew she messed up for what she had done.

She shouldn't have tried to throw something at her. But in her defense, she didn't know it was Lena.

"We need to talk," Lena voiced as more of a question than an order, as she anxiously waited for a reply.

Callie answered quickly, "I wasn't… I wasn't going to throw anything at you."

_Yes, you were_ Lena wanted to add but thought she should tread lightly this soon in the conversation.

"I need you to understand something..."

Callie waited as she pressed her lips together nervously.

"Stef and I… We're not going to hurt you or Jude," Lena added. "This is a safe place for you both… But we have other kids here that we need to protect too. We can't risk you hurting them either," Lena implied as she gestured to the statue that Callie almost tossed at her, which was still sitting on the counter in between them.

"We can go," Callie tried to come up with a quick solution before things were to get really bad.

The older woman stared at Callie sadly and she knew that the girl didn't want to really hurt any of them. She seemed so vulnerable beneath the harder surface she was trying so hard to display as some kind of defense mechanism. But Lena could see right through that.

"That's not what I'm saying," Lena answered her in an assured voice. "I just… I think you need to learn to _trust_ us a little first. It's the only way any of this is going to work out. If you don't trust us, we can't help either of you."

Callie glanced away from Lena immediately.

She couldn't explain to the woman that she didn't even want to be there.

She didn't want to be indoors.

She didn't want to see another closed window or a simple lock on any of the doors.

Trusting someone was the least of her issues.

* * *

**Chapter 17: Out**

Lena could tell that Callie was struggling with this by the slight glimmer in her eyes that began to form. The girl quickly brought her eyes down to focus on the mug instead. She didn't want anyone to see her cry.

It was a skill she had mastered by now_. If she stared hard enough and focused hard enough on another subject, she could forget all about whatever it was that caused the tears in the first place and stop them all together. _And strangely, she was proud of it…

_But why shouldn't she be? It was what kept her from getting beaten plenty of times._

"What's wrong?" Lena asked with a slight head tilt and a serene tone in her voice.

"Nothing," Callie answered in response as she shook her head.

_Sometimes people just ask questions just to ask,_ Callie knew_. They don't really want to know the true answers to them._

It was what her mother did every time she came to visit them.

Corrine didn't ever want to hear about how hot it was in the attic in the summer, at over 100 degrees and no fresh air.

She didn't want to hear about how cold it was in the winter, that they could barely keep themselves from freezing to death even with the few blankets they had.

She just wanted to hear that everything was _okay_ and that they _weren't_ suffering everyday.

"_Nothing"_ seemed like the perfect answer to Lena's question. _It was what she wanted to hear? Right?_ Callie rationalized.

"I don't believe that," Lena answered honestly which caught Callie by surprise. And even though she was worried that her skepticism was going to make an already awkward situation even worse, she didn't excuse or change her words.

When the woman realized that Callie hadn't reacted negatively to what she said, she decided to try and keep her talking. "You know…" she began with a small smile, "We're never going to gain each other's trust, if only one of us is talking here."

Silence filled the room_._

And just as Lena thought that Callie was going to stop responding all together, the girl spoke.

"What do you want me to say? …That I don't want to be here?" she asked the woman who was beginning to seem just as pushy as her wife was being according to the teen.

Lena breathed in heavily through her nose before asking her next question.

"Okay," she nodded carefully. "So where is it that you'd rather be?" she figured she'd ask.

The fourteen year old's eyes peered towards the window in back of Lena's head immediately following her question. She stared at it for at least ten seconds before shrugging her shoulders and staring back at the mug. She began to take another sip of her tea but it was still too hot.

It took Lena a little while before realizing that Callie was trying to communicate with her without actually saying anything.

_She wanted to go outside._

But Lena also knew that she'd have to be the one to suggest it before the girl would even consider doing so.

"You know what? I bet our teas would cool off a bit faster if we went outside... Mine's still a little hot," the older woman lied. Lena wanted to make Callie feel as comfortable as she could. And by what just happened in the living room, she wasn't feeling very comfortable.

Callie glanced up at Lena skeptically_. Could this be a trick?_ she wondered. But the need for some fresh air and the fear of being in a space that was still so closed off was getting to her.

Callie _needed_ out.

She nodded quickly before standing up from her seat. "Let me just get Jude."

"Uh, Callie," Lena spoke abruptly in order to stop her from waking her younger brother who was sound asleep. "Maybe we should let Jude rest. He looks like he could really use it."

Callie stared back at Lena with a completely different attitude.

_She wanted to change her mind about going outside now. _

_She needed Jude there._

_He was the only brother she had left now._

"I promise you Jude will be okay. You two are safe in this house," Lena made another attempt to relax the girl before standing up. "We can come back inside whenever you like… How does that sound?" Lena pressed.

Callie glanced once again at the walls surrounding her. She couldn't help but feel like she couldn't breath in there if she stayed in much longer.

_Should she leave Jude? _

_Alone and unprotected?_

"Here," Lena said as she picked up Callie's mug to try to get her to take it and follow her outside. The woman didn't want Callie to think too much about it or she'd know she wouldn't stray from Jude's side.

She _had_ to separate them.

Lena knew that once Callie realized that Jude was safe, she'd be able to open up more.

Callie glanced back worriedly towards the direction of the living room where Jude was once more and just stared.

She _would_ definitely hear him if he were to scream.

She just couldn't go far.

The girl glanced at Lena, who was rushing her answer even more.

"Okay. But only until my tea gets colder," she answered as if she were doing Lena a favor instead of herself.

Lena smiled and thought it best to let Callie think that before following the girl, who was already halfway out of the door.

_I can do this_, Lena thought to herself now...

**Author's Note: Okay. So I feel like given the prequel to the story that I wrote, Stef is pretty taken by these kids already. Lena needs time to open up and accept them too. That's what caused for this and the following chapter. I don't really enjoy reading stories where things happen too fast so hopefully this doesn't seem rushed. **

**Anyways, thanks for continuing reading and reviewing as well as taking an interest in these fics. It's definitely what helps me update them.**

**And what do you think? Should Callie open up to Lena? I love Lena's character (aside from the Monte situation). I don't think there's enough Callie/Lena fics in here (though I love my Callie/Stef). I want more of them. Idk? Let me know what you think should happen next…**


	7. Part 7: Lena

**Part 7: Lena**

* * *

**Chapter 18: Air**

As soon as Lena closed the screen door behind them, she noticed Callie slowly walking farther from the house. She still had her hot tea in her hands and she could feel the cool breeze practically seeping through the pajamas Stef had bought for her earlier that day.

It didn't matter to her that she was cold.

It was always ten times colder inside of the attic than it was outside. _That_ she was almost sure of.

Lena on the other hand suddenly thought twice about going outside without a jacket, though she hadn't wanted to leave now and risk this opportunity.

_It wasn't that cold,_ the older woman rationalized as she watched Callie stroll slowly toward the grass.

The girl desperately wanted to take her slippers off and push her feet against the grass, allowing the coldness to permeate through.

She'd finally come a long way from making fake grass from the construction paper for her paper garden they made in the attic.

"It's nice out," Callie voiced lightly, catching Lena by surprise. It wasn't the older woman initiating the conversation this time.

"Yes, it is," Lena lied. "A bit chilly though," she confessed and she folded one of arms across her chest in an effort to keep warm. She took a sip of her hot tea with the other.

* * *

**Chapter 19: Opening Up **

Callie almost forgot she still had the tea in her hand until she saw Lena drink some, causing her to cup the mug with both hands and bring it up to her lips. Her mind was focused elsewhere though… at the porch lights of their neighbors house, at the tall tree not too far away from them, and at the hammock that resided in their backyard.

_This is nice_, she thought to herself.

Lena decided to walk over closer toward her. Callie watched from the corner of her eye and the woman leaned down and took a seat on the steps next to the teen's feet. Callie glanced down at the curly hair on the woman's head wondering exactly what she was doing but too afraid to ask. Instead, her eyes darted towards the dandelions that were on the other side of Lena. Her immediate instinct was to bend over and grab one or two. It was dark outside but flowers were bright enough for Callie to notice.

That was when she noticed the pink and purple flowers on her side. The urge to sit down on the steps and grab them grew even stronger, and the only thing stopping her was the fact that she'd be sitting too close to Lena.

The girl didn't feel comfortable enough to do that yet and not without Lena's permission.

Lena took another sip of her tea and glanced up at Callie, who she caught staring at her before she quickly glanced away awkwardly. Lena offered her a smile. "Have a seat, Callie."

The fourteen-year-old froze as she considered what to do. _I better not disobey her_, she tried to rationalize even though she really just wanted to sit. _I just won't sit too close_, she thought to herself and she bent over and sat on the farther edge of the steps next to the colorful flowers.

Lena had almost a billion questions she wanted to ask but didn't want to overwhelm her with them all too soon. It was obvious that she was traumatized and more so than Jude was. Stef told her that was mainly thanks to Callie. The blonde knew Callie shielded her brother from most of it. She was there for both of their police reports and heard everything.

Lena knew that these two had already been through a lot, but she did want them to know that they were safe there for now. She thought Jude knew that since he appeared so trusting immediately, though she Callie would be more difficult.

"I'm sorry about the sofas. Stef and I will be picking up some beds tomorrow for you both. That's probably why you can't sleep," Lena explained.

_That's not why_, Callie thought. She couldn't sleep because she _shouldn't_ sleep.

They still didn't really know these people. And there were too many of them to risk it.

* * *

"Why did Stef bring us here?" Callie finally asked her instead.

Lena fumbled with her response and remained silent for a few seconds too long. "Uh… She... she knew you'd be safe here, I guess. She didn't want to leave you and Jude with some strangers after what you've just been through."

_You are some strangers_, the teen thought.

"Why would we have to stay with strangers?" Callie asked instead. Stef could have just left her there. The teen would've figured out a way for them to survive. She always did.

It surprised Lena how inexperienced Callie was about all of this. _Didn't she know that they needed an adult to watch over them? Or that they needed a place to stay?_ she wondered at first. But slowly she began to realize why. They hadn't really had anyone who actually took care of them in years. She couldn't understand why she would need an adult around, when the one adult who should have taken care of them had been the same person who tried to kill them.

"Because… you two are too young to be on your own," she tried to say without sounding critical. "Child protective services would've placed you two with some random couple and she didn't want that. _I_ wouldn't have wanted that either…" Lena answered sincerely. The woman anxiously waited for a response from the teen or for a change in Callie's confused facial expression.

Callie wasn't sure how to feel about any of this either. She wanted to be on her own with just Jude, but she also knew she had nowhere else to go.

They still hadn't found Chris.

If they found him, they could all run. She knew that he must've been an adult by now.

* * *

**Chapter 20: Chris**

Callie didn't respond and instead glanced downwards and pulled a flower from the ground. She placed her mug down on the step and brought the flower up closer to where she could really see it.

Lena watched as Callie inspected the pink flower. One of the petals was torn at the edge and the stem was cut too short. It still looked pretty to her though.

"They're pretty," Callie told Lena.

"I thought so too," Lena agreed. "Do you like planting?" she asked. "Is that something you're into?"

Callie wasn't sure how she should answer Lena's question. "I _made_ flowers," she answered truthfully. "Paper flowers," she corrected. "We couldn't have real flowers when we were in the attic. Mama said they'd die without sunlight, so there was no point. The paper flowers were still nice though... They gave us hope, I guess…"

"Oh," Lena answered. "How so?"

The teen began plucking the petals off one by one and allowing them to flow slowly onto the ground. "Once you pull a real flower away from it's root, it starts to die quickly. Our paper flowers didn't. And as long as they couldn't die up there… we figured _we_ couldn't either… That's what Chris said anyway. It's why Jude and I would make one every single day when he left."

Lena sat there speechless as Callie finished speaking. She hadn't wanted to express how sad what the teen said made her feel. It angered her just as much as it angered Stef that they were locked away for years with just each other to support. She couldn't understand how their mother could be so cruel. _She was their mother for goodness sake!_ Lena could never imagine doing anything even remotely cruel to her own children. She didn't want to. It was no wonder why Callie found it so difficult to leave her brother alone with anyone.

"Do you know if they are any closer to finding him? Chris?" Callie asked her. Callie figured that Stef told her wife about everything that her and Jude said in their reports but she wasn't sure.

Lena's heart sunk. She couldn't be the one to tell Callie or Jude that Chris was gone. She wasn't sure if she should _ever_ know. They didn't need anymore hurt in their lives, especially not now. She wanted to shield them from it. "No, honey... I don't know," she lied.

Callie glanced down at the stem she had left in her hand.

_What did this mean?_ she wondered.

"You know what?" Lena tried to change the subject. "How about tomorrow we go to the store and buy some flower seeds? You and Jude can pick some out and plant them right over there," Lena suggested to the teen, as she pointed toward the empty area along the fence. "Maybe we can pull that dead rose bush out and plant them all along the fence. I think it could look really nice. Would you like that?" Lena tried for a confirmation.

Callie hadn't wanted to say yes out loud but she really wanted to take Lena up on her offer at the same time. She didn't want to make it seem like she was asking for something.

"I don't want to be any trouble," she said in a low tone.

"What?" Lena furrowed her eyebrows. "Why would it be any trouble?" she asked.

The teen shrugged her shoulders.

"We'll go first thing in the morning," Lena arranged. "Sound like a plan?" she tried to smile so that Callie would feel comfortable enough to say yes.

Callie attempted to find the courage to open her mouth but couldn't.

_Why can't I just open my mouth and say yes?_ she asked herself.

Instead, she gave Lena a soft nod, hoping that it was enough.

"Okay," Lena nodded before taking another sip of her tea.

**To be continued…**


	8. PART 8: Seeds Of Yesterday

**Chapter 21: Flowers**

Callie watched intently as Lena began removing the dirt from around the fence with her shovel. Jude stood by Callie, a little farther off, as he inspected the flowers that he and Callie had picked up with Lena at the store.

"Callie, does that look deep enough?" Lena asked as she looked up at the girl. She couldn't see the hole that Lena had dug but she nodded her head anyway.

"Okay," the woman said as she waved the teen and her brother over, "Callie, Jude, get closer," she urged them both.

They did as she requested.

"Open one of those," she instructed Callie and the girl did so. "Okay, now drop some of them in there," she pointed to the hole.

The girl knelt down and poured some of the seeds in.

"How long do they take to grow?" Callie asked out of curiosity as she eyed the seeds with obvious interest. She hadn't ever had to actually wait for flowers to bloom and with her luck, she wasn't sure if they ever would.

"About a month, give or take," Lena answered. "But you and Jude are going to have to water them everyday. They're going to need a lot of tending to."

"A month?" Callie repeated for clarification and Lena nodded.

She wasn't sure they'd even be here for an entire month. Since spending over four years in the attic, Callie knew better than anyone just how incredibly slow a month would take. _These people could send them back tomorrow… So why would they convince them to plant seeds when there might not even be a possibility that they'd ever get a chance to see them bloom. It seemed almost cruel to the teen._

Callie's face fell and the woman noticed. "It might not even be that long," she tried to correct. "It might only be a few weeks if we're lucky. Don't worry. I'm sure time will pass before you know it."

Callie stared at Lena with apparent skepticism written all over her face.

"…Callie, are we going to be here for a whole month?" the nine-year-old boy asked his sister. The teen was beginning to realize that her and her brother thought a lot alike. Maybe he was affected almost as much as she was, Callie realized.

Lena glanced down when she had begun to understand just why Callie hadn't been too happy to hear that it would take month for the flowers to bloom. She wanted to comfort the kids and tell them that they would be there, but the truth was that she didn't know either. She didn't want to lie to them.

"I don't know, bud," Callie responded as she stood up to pat his head. "Here," she said as she handed the boy the seeds. "You can do the rest," she tried to smile. Lena noticed how caring the teen was to her brother. She was almost like his mom.

He returned the smile and bent down to help Lena. The woman wanted to say something to Callie to keep her from leaving but the girl was already beginning to walk toward the house.

* * *

**Chapter 22: Seeds Of Yesterday**

Stef, who had been washing dishes, noticed that Callie was walking toward the porch and she obviously didn't look too thrilled. She never seemed thrilled but she seemed even more down than usual. The blonde dried her hands with the dishtowel and decided to walk out and see what was going on.

Callie had been sitting on the steps by the time Stef opened the door all the way. The teen's head immediately turned to face her with a distinct look of fear in her eyes. It was as if she were actually expecting it to be someone else. The woman wondered whether the girl would ever feel safe at the sound of a door opening and closing. She also wondered if there was ever a chance that Callie would recover from all of the fear their grandmother instilled in her. Would she ever forget all of the events that occurred in that attic?

It was times like these where Stef's hatred for those people began to grow. And even she felt guilty for just how late they got hold of the kids.

_Four years was way too long._

"It's only me," Stef tried to soothe her in a soft voice and a soft smile.

Callie looked back at her for a couple of seconds and decided it was okay to turn her attention away again. She gazed over to Lena and Jude, who were both digging more and more holes in the ground. He liked her, Callie realized. And even that made her a little jealous.

"Is everything alright, baby?" the blonde asked her as she sat down on the step beside the girl. "Lena said you seemed _kinda_ excited about planting at the store. Did something happen?"

Callie glanced back at the woman as if she were crazy.

Not because she asked her what was wrong but because she referred to her as a baby.

It was the strangest thing to the teen. She let go of her childhood when she was ten; the very first day she spent in that attic four years ago.

She had to take care of herself and Jude and no one ever helped her with anything, except for her older brother Chris. But even though he was older, they treated each other like their equals.

She was never _a baby_ to him.

Callie chose to let what Stef called her go. She didn't want to get into that conversation today. "I changed my mind," she said in a calm tone. "I don't need to plant seeds."

"Uhuh," Stef nodded with a hint of interest. "And what changed?"

Callie stared back at her with that weird look again. The blonde was beginning to realize that this girl wasn't used to being questioned. There wasn't really an adult around who questioned her for the sake of caring.

The teen stayed silent.

"Callie?" Stef pressed, reminding the teen that she was still there and deserved an answer. The woman needed to enforce the idea that she was the adult and Callie was the child. She wouldn't sit there and be ignored.

"What?" Callie answered in a casual tone.

"I asked you a question, sweets. You have to answer me," the woman asserted while still keeping her tone calm.

Callie stared back at Stef in confusion. _Why did it matter to her why she didn't answer her question? She didn't really care about the answer. People like her just ask questions just to ask. _

"I didn't feel like it anymore," the teen finally responded.

Stef was beginning to hate that the girl was being so vague with her answers. It was as if she found it almost impossible to have a productive conversation with any one besides Jude.

"Are you sick?" Stef continued.

Callie shook her head.

"Then…" Stef remained persistent.

"I don't want to plant seeds when we're never going to see the flowers. It makes no sense," Callie finally admitted to her. She hadn't said it in order to make the woman feel bad. She said it to keep her from asking the same question over and over again.

But it did make Stef feel bad though the woman tried not to show it.

"You know… there are other reasons people choose to plant aside from seeing the actual flowers. I know for me, planting is kind of therapeutic."

The teen's eyes met Stef's again. Stef could tell by her expression that she didn't really understand what she meant so the blonde chose to clarify. "When I plant, it helps me let go of what I'm feeling sometimes. Like when I have a bad day at work and I end up seeing something I don't really want to see, planting or any other hobby really, helps me get my mind off of it."

Callie nodded softly as she began to think about it. She'd only considered the end result of the actual flower. That was all she'd ever dealt with in the attic.

"And why do you think you won't get to see the flowers grow, anyway?" Stef chose to ask next, eyeing the teen in confusion.

Callie seemed uncomfortable before responding, "We won't be here. Lena said it would take a month."

"Oh," Stef answered. "Are you planning on going somewhere I don't know about?"

"No," Callie answered in a flattened tone.

"Then why won't you be here in a month?"

"That's what the guy from CPS said. That this was only temporary until he found us somewhere else to go… Then, we get to do this all over again," Callie smiled a sad smile. "That's how it works right?" Callie asked her, turning her gaze back toward Stef.

Stef stared back at the teen and could see all of the hurt in her eyes. It seemed almost as if she were desperate to stay but didn't want to say it. The blonde couldn't blame her.

"They're just stupid flowers," Callie answered nonchalantly. "Stupid seeds that probably won't even grow," she continued as she flicked the leftover seeds she had in her hand onto the ground and stood up and began walking inside.

Stef stared at the seeds on the ground for a while and repeated what Callie said in her mind. That girl didn't deserve this, she thought again as she too stood up and began picking the seeds up from the ground. She picked up only a few and stared at them again.

It was then that she knew she'd plant them.

And Callie would stick around long enough to watch them grow.


	9. Part 9: Flowers

_6 months later…_

**Chapter 23: Teach**

Lena read directly from the algebra textbook. "If John had 400 apples and gave x amount of apples away and ended up with a quarter times the apples he started with, how many apples did he give away?" Lena asked Callie.

Callie wrote the formulas in her notebook.

400 - x = ¼ (400)z

x= 400-z

"Good, you got the formulas down, now what do you do?"

"What do you mean?" Callie asked in confusion. "I thought I was done."

"No, honey. That's just the first step. What should you do next?"

Callie sighed as she stared at her notebook, wondering how she even got those formulas on the piece of paper now. She knew she wrote them but she wasn't sure entirely how to use them. "This is stupid. Who is going to have 400 apples in real life? There's no point in this."

"No," Lena corrected. "It's not stupid. You will need to use the concepts of algebra in the real world too. Now, come 'on. Don't give up the second things get difficult."

"Who's giving up?" Stef questioned as she walked toward the dining room table with Chips and salsa. "I know it's not Callie, since she's not a quitter." 

"I hate algebra. Stef, who's going to have 400 apples?"

Stef laughed, "Uh, no one."

Callie pointed to her foster mother as if she had the right idea.

"I think you both are missing the point," Lena said in a frustrating tone. "This is very important for you to learn, Callie. You are going to need Algebra in order to pay your bills in the future among a lot of other things." 

Stef nodded. "You know, Lena's right. It's not all about apples. This is an important skill," Stef felt the need to back her wife up, knowing fully well that if she didn't she would be in trouble with her later. "And besides, you're not a quitter."

"How do you know?" Callie asked matter-of-factly as she stared down at the notebook again.

"Because I know you," Stef answered simply as she kissed Callie on the forehead and grabbed the pencil and put it back in Callie's hand. "Now, figure it out," she threatened playfully, causing for Lena to smile at them and watch as Stef left the room.

"Okay, what should you do next?" Lena questioned.

Callie sighed. "Find x."

"Yes," Lena nodded. "How do you do that?"

Callie stared at the formulas for a short while before it all started to come back to her. She multiplied ¼ and 400 to get z which was 100 and got x by subtracting 100 from 400 to get z=300. "John gave away 300 apples."

Lena smiled. "See, you do know this."

"I guess," Callie answered. "But John should have just given away the other 100 too. He sounds selfish to keep all of them to himself."

"Well, I'll be sure to tell him that," Lena answered back before Callie squinted her eyes at her.

_Two can play this game_, Lena thought to herself.

**Chapter 24: Growth**

Callie walked outside into the backyard and walked over toward the fence. It was already dark but she the moon still gave her enough light to see them.

She'd gaze at them a lot. The flowers that Jude and Lena planted a few months back. She'd pick one every so often and take it upstairs to her room and place it under her pillow. It was something about being able to touch one that eased her mind through the night. She thought that she would never stay long enough to see them grow, but there they were. The bush of flowers growing bigger and bigger with every day that went on.

Though the teen was completely unaware that the cop had been planting more of them afterward, since she knew that Callie admired them so much after finding them under her pillow time and time again.

She grabbed a pink one from the bush and brought it to her hand, before making her way back toward the house.

**Chapter 25: Keeps**

Lena laid her body on the bed and placed the covers over herself. Stef turned her head to face her wife. "You didn't leave the poor girl down there doing algebra all night, did you?"

Lena smiled. "I'm not that bad of a teacher," she defended.

"I didn't say that. I just think you can lighten up sometimes. They need to have fun too. School work all of the time can get quite exhausting for a kid."

"I know that. I'm just trying to get them to catch up so they can start school in September. It's a lot of information and I don't want them to fall behind."

Stef nodded. "I know."

"And Callie knew the answer to that question. She was just being difficult."

"You think?" Stef asked.

"Sometimes I think she just doesn't want to realize that she knows it. Like she's afraid to do well in something."

"What?" Stef said in confusion. "How do you get that idea?"

"I think she thinks there's no point to learning it when there's other things on her mind."

"Other things like?"

"I think she's still worried. It was weird. When I mentioned her and Jude starting school in September, she didn't even look at me. It was as if she thought it wasn't really going to happen."

"It is."

"Well, I wish I can tell her that and have her believe me. I want to be able to tell her that she and Jude aren't going anywhere."

"They're not," Stef said simply as she adjusted the covers over her own body.

Lena looked over at her wife and she wondered if they were thinking the same thing.

"What?" Stef asked. "You didn't think I would just give them to someone else did you?" she asked her wife nervously. "Those kids are stuck with us by now. I thought you knew that."

Lena remained silent. "Well, you never said anything."

"Did I really have to?" she offered a short laugh. "Why? Is there something wrong with it?"

"No," Lena shook her head and gave a soft smile. "I'm actually relieved to know you feel this way too."

"Well, then it's settled."

"It'll be settled when we tell the kids and make it permanent. They need to realize that they're safe here."

"Okay," Stef agreed as she placed her head onto her pillow. "Then, we'll do it tomorrow."

"Callie? What's going on?" Jude asked when he saw his sister sitting by their foster mothers' door with the flower in her hand.

Callie placed her finger to her lips in order to shush him. Jude understood what that meant and walked over toward her and sat beside the teen. He knew she had been eavesdropping.

Jude placed his head on her shoulder and stared at the flower in her hand. "I think it came true," Callie whispered to him.

"What?" he whispered back.

Callie handed him the flower before getting up and walking back toward her room with a smile on her face.

Jude stared at the flower in confusion and then at his sister who was halfway down the hallway. He stared at the flower and somehow began to understand what his sister might've meant.

He smiled too as he got up and walked back to his room.

**THE END!**

**Author's Note: Sorry for the delay in the ending of this story. Endings are so hard for me to write and I knew there was only one more chapter left but wasn't sure how to finish. It took a while but I came up with something.**

**Hope you enjoyed!**


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